Hey, folks. So you've probably heard, Skydive Cal City is closing its doors as of November 25th. My friends and I (who all started jumping there) have been pretty bummed about it since hearing the news yesterday...and for me, the only thing that's really taken the edge off is reading some people's good vibes and memories from the thread in the General forum.

So since the firepit at the DZ will soon be dark, I was just wondering - anyone have any good/crazy/scary stories from back in the day they feel like sharing? I'm always amazed at how much history there is up there...and I know I haven't heard anything close to all of it. Since I won't be able to hear the stories sitting around at Foxy's on a Saturday night anymore, I thought I'd ask. Perhaps it'd be a good 'memorial' to the DZ to collect some of them here. I'm curious about it all - what planes they used to fly, the 2 DZ's thing, what it was like jumping rounds in Cal City winds, the shooting range, the Peckerheads, crazy movie shoots, memorable jumps...just about anything, really. The place has seen a lot of changes in the sport.

(oh yeah, & if it's something for which that the statute of limitations isn't yet up, y'know, feel free not to post it ...sure there's a few stories like that...)

Of course, if you'd rather, you can always post it to the thread in the General forum, too...but if you've got a good memory to share, please do me a favor and share it. The bonfire isn't going to be around much longer, and history is lost when it's not told.

We tried to do a night 20-way once. The dive was a total zoo and I lost altitude awareness. I tracked off into the blackness and started to get ground rush from the runway numbers. I pulled and had about a 45 second canopy ride. Not wanting to get in trouble, I grabbed up my canopy and started running towards the target circle. As soon as I saw someone else starting to gather up their canopy I waited a little bit and then walked up behind them and said "Damn did you see that guy that went low!!! I wonder who the hell that was!". Since the only way we saw each other at all was the chem-lights I got away with it. I'll let some other people post and then I'll tell the story of almost bouncing in front of the town council.

It is really sad to hear that Cal City will be closing!! I made my first jump there in 1985. This drop zone was a magical place!!! When I was only 13 My Dad "Mac" Mckinney jumped there and I was the DZ bratt. Later when I was in the Navy stationed in San Diego I would drive past Perris and two more hours to get to Cal City it was like coming home!! Van and Alberta, Judy and Bob, Ian Bellis (R.I.P. my friend) Lisa and Kim our DZ babes!! and my many other friends I miss those days!!!

I remember there was a "tree party" one year where skydivers caravaned in the middle of the desert to party under a lone tree. The party went into the early morning. I was on the first early load. There were thousands of sheep in this pasture where some drunken skydivers had not yet risen. Van had this huge smile on his face as he proceeded to stampede (buzz) the sheep over these to poor guys. I can only imagine the horror of looking up and trying to focus on the sight of these sheep flying over you!! In some places here in the south some might think that would be heaven!!

My friend Doug and I jumped the Blue Angel Demo today in Pensacola, Florida and we raised a toast to all of you in Cal City!!!

My friend Doug and I jumped the Blue Angel Demo today in Pensacola, Florida and we raised a toast to all of you in Cal City!!!

Is that "Doug" as in "Doug Morrow" ???

If it is, tell him there's nothing in the Beer Rules that lets him skip out on the Beer he still owes us in Cal City just because the place closes! He still has to pay up!!

Anyway... ah yes... the sheep herders that drive their flocks past the DZ every year... you'd think they would have learned by now... anyhow... we don't want too much talk of skydivers and sheep around here! Let some stories die!!!

Anyway... no shit, there I was... remember the Sat or Sunday morning when a bunch of us were standing around bright and early... well it wasn't bright, but it was early... and the ceiling was around 3000' and it was spitting rain... we were trying to decide if... 1) hang out to see if it cleared up... 2) go home... or 3) start drinking now??? Van said lets load up and go over to the Silver Saddle for breakfast. So we all load up into the Otter and hop over to the Saddle for breakfast. By the time we get done and come out the ceiling has dropped a thousand feet or so and its raining for real, but we load back up to head back to the Cal City airport. As we head West from the Saddle back to Cal City... the ceiling that way is even lower... by the time we got back close to the Cal City airport, well, we were low... I was starting to worry about telephone poles... . Anyway, made it back and now its one of those "no shit... there I was... thought I was gonna die... that wasn't so smart" stores that get told over and over after a bunch of beers.

Remember any of this? 1. The bear on the runway, and then ran thru the experienced landing area we were all inside the milkvan thing! 2. And who could ever forget Y-DIVE (300 static line jumps in 1 day), also, the sewer line or something broke!

Well, since it's almost over, and there were so few involved to rat each other out, I guess it's OK for me to ask...

Anyone gonna bring up a small group sneaking the Cessna out of the hanger after midnight for some unmanifested night loads? And the pilot not wanting to get busted using the radio to turn the runway lights on is OK too, until the landing light burns out, and the landing has to be done by sense of smell! Well?

there was the time when Danny Binge (his real name) passed out. He got stripped naked, shoved in his sleeping bag, the end tied shut and dumped at the end of the runway, the next day he woke up to the sound of the jump plane buzzing him, Reminds me of a pilot named (rotten) Roger, he loved the buzzed the top of people sleeping out in the desert. at about 2 feet above the top of your pick-up

Well, since it's almost over, and there were so few involved to rat each other out, I guess it's OK for me to ask...

Anyone gonna bring up a small group sneaking the Cessna out of the hanger after midnight for some unmanifested night loads? And the pilot not wanting to get busted using the radio to turn the runway lights on is OK too, until the landing light burns out, and the landing has to be done by sense of smell! Well?

BASE359

Remember any of this? 1. The bear on the runway, and then ran thru the experienced landing area we were all inside the milkvan thing! 2. And who could ever forget Y-DIVE (300 static line jumps in 1 day), also, the sewer line or something broke!

I remember borrowing the 210 a few times for drunked night dives alone with a hot little AFF student pre training with a night tamdem,

1. yes, and Scott going after it naked on a ATC 2. yes, 351 gay jumper in one day. and the first guy went Free fall when the static line broke. and the cess pool backed up.

Just sitting here thinking about Cal City....it was the place I attended my first crater party. Some guy frapped off the end of the runway and later, after dark, me and some of the locals walked down to the crater with some beer. It was quite an eye opener for a fairly new jumper with 150 jumps. Just some of the stuff you never unload.

If it is, tell him there's nothing in the Beer Rules that lets him skip out on the Beer he still owes us in Cal City just because the place closes! He still has to pay up!!

Quote:

Yeah, yeah, I know. Next month when I'm out there I'll pay up. Again, you're the only guy who calls someone on beer from 2000 miles away. It's quite a unique gift you have. I'm still trying to find a way to steal a beer truck and not get kicked out the Navy...

But back to Cal City stories, Tim, what about all of Geoffrey's Mikey-isms? You probably remember more than me, but I'll start it off:

Mikey: Man, there's no one here today!

Tim: Then why did you just have to share a seatbelt for takeoff?

After much laughing at his expense, Mikey responds: Man, fuck you guys. You know what I mean.

A lot of people have forgotten the Beech-18 we had between the 206 and the Otter. The heating ducts had been pulled out and the person sitting third from the front got the full blast on his/her butt the whole ride up. I thought my harness was going to get hot enough to melt sometimes. It was a pre-serial number Beech so it was also really old. Greg Senger put a little piece of velcro on one of the nav lights just behind the door and was actually able to rear float with one foot on it. Exits were tough because the door wasn't modified and still had the original oval shape so the floaters all got their feet squeezed together at the bottom. After Van bought the Otter it wasn't jumped much and I heard it was eventually sold to a guy from Washington state. Anybody got a picture?